Stable procurement of safe, reliable, high-quality ingredients is essential for the continued production of better products.
To ensure this, we participate in responsible initiatives that keep in mind the natural environment and society of the growing area from the ingredient procurement stage.
S&B Foods announced the "Sustainable Procurement Commitment" in May 2019, promising to all stakeholders to engage in sustainable procurement of important ingredients and materials such as main spices, palm oil, and paper.
To achieve our corporate philosophy of "Bring natural life and happiness to every household" and execute the "Basic Sustainability Purchasing Policy" in ingredient procurement, we ensure that not only the purpose thereof is understood and practiced in-house, but also among our suppliers and across the entire supply chain.
Executive Officer, General Manager of Central Research Institute,
General Manager of Spice Control Division, Development and Manufacturing Group.
Yoshiaki Satake
Basic Sustainable Procurement Policy
At S&B Foods, we have established the "Basic Sustainable Procurement Policy," upon which we base ingredient and material procurement.
Working with our partners and building a relationship of trust based on rules is absolutely essential to creating products with guaranteed safety and reliability.
Basic Sustainable Procurement Policy
- 1Safety and reliability
- 2Legal compliance and ethical procurement
- 3Consideration of the environment and human rights
- 4Fair trade
- 5Prosperous coexistence
Safety and Reliability Initiatives
At S&B Foods, we collect the basic information on all ingredients used in a database, which is updated regularly.
Items include a variety of information such as the growing area, the manufacturing process, additives, allergens, and genetic modifications.
In particular, spice and herb quality-related items, such as fragrance, color, and pungency, as well as safety and reliability analyses on residual pesticides, etc., are continuously and periodically evaluated in our thorough quality control system.
Stable Procurement Initiatives
Since our founding, our greatest strength at S&B Foods has been product manufacturing with a focus on herbs and spices.
Team members at the department in charge of spice and herb procurement work hard to keep track of the local weather, growing conditions, and political climate in growing areas around the world in order to procure better ingredients.
Because the climate in growing areas can have a significant impact on the quality and yield of ingredients, it can be a painstaking process to procure a stable annual supply that meets S&B Foods quality standards.
Various elements go into ensuring stable procurement, such as distributed growing areas and using contract farming.
We look forward to continuing efforts into better ingredient procurement while making regular visits to growing areas and strengthening relationships with producers and local manufacturers.
Sustainable Procurement Commitment
To achieve our corporate philosophy of "Bring natural life and happiness to every household," we view spices, which are core ingredients for S&B Foods, palm oil, and paper, which are internationally recognized as having issues in areas of the environment, the biosphere, and human rights, as important aspects of sustainable procurement.
As part of our commitment to stakeholders, we released our Medium and Long-Term Procurement Policy on our website in May 2019.
By fulfilling this commitment, we are actively engaged in contributing to the achievement of international SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals).
Commitment 1
Sustainable spice procurement
We have set a sustainable procurement goal*1 for main spices that takes into consideration safety, human rights, the environment, and compliance with a target of reaching the goal by 2030.
Through a three-step process consisting of survey, analysis, and improvement aimed at attaining our goal, currently we are undertaking supplier surveys.
We have already given a questionnaire survey based on five items in our Basic Sustainability Purchasing Policy and have scrutinized the results. Currently, we are video-conferencing with and interviewing in detail suppliers that are taking advanced measures.
We are also continuing efforts toward fair trade*2 and organic certification*3 in spice procurement as well as expanding contracted farming.
*1Main spices: pepper, chili pepper, mustard, parsley, laurel, oregano, wasabi
*2 Fairtrade International certification
| Purpose | Continuously purchasing the ingredients and products of a developing nation at a fair price promotes improved living conditions and autonomy among producers and laborers in such nations, and helps build a "trade framework" among the international society that can eliminate economic disparity. |
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*3 Organic JAS certification
| Purpose | This mark certifies that the produce is grown organically based on JAS standards established by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries of Japan, also notifies consumers of its organic provenance. |
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Organic JAS and Fairtrade certified products
Commitment 2
Sustainable palm oil procurement
By 2023 we will switch to 100% RSPO certified*4 palm oil for all S&B Food Group products. As of March 2022, use of RSPO certified oil was at 18.5%.
*4 RSPO certification
| Purpose | This certification promotes the use of sustainable palm oil. |
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Check out our progress at www.rspo.org
Products that use RSPO certified palm oil.
Commitment 3
Sustainable paper procurement
By 2023, we will switch to 100% FSC certified*5 paper for some S&B group products packaging such as curry/stew sauce mix, ready made sauce in pouch, prepared spice paste and etc.. As of March 2022, use of FSC certified paper was at 56.0% of applicable products based on the number of items.
*5 FSC certification
| Purpose | This certification promotes the economically sustainable, responsible management of the world's forests. |
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Products that use FSC certified paper